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The Crazy Canucks #21 – We are all Waiting For (the) Stanley (Cup)

Posted this morning.

Dave is another healthy scratch for this episode, but that doesn’t mean we like him any less. However, we did find another blogger who loves the Canucks as well, but you’ll also hear about the “other team” he follows. Sean, aka Zanstorm, from Waiting For Stanley joins us from Smithers, B.C. to discuss the last two games against the Blackhawks and Thrashers.

Record as of this episode: 31-21-4
Northwest Division: 2nd
Western Conference: 7th

The hunt for the playoffs is on, so we cover some of that ground after getting to know a little more about Sean. John and J.J. also report back on what they can remember about the Thrasers game at GM Place. Rebecca checks in with the ever intriguing players blogs, and we can’t help ourselves from addressing the trade talks.

49:41 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

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The unspoken system of checks and balances

There’s a very interesting discussion going on right now in the realm of hockey blogging. I’m a bit of an outsider when it comes to the “mucking and grinding”, but it’s no secret that I’m a hockey fan.

What’s going on right now is a discussion about Eklund, the main guy behind HockeyBuzz.com. I don’t know enough about the guy to say much about him as a blogger, but to know him is to understand that “Eklund” is a pseudonym, he never posts under his real name, and you never see his face. Anonymity is his “thing”.

In the blogosphere, there is an unspoken system of checks and balances that fellow bloggers go to work on in order to verify the integrity of what one person claims through their posts. Now that Eklund is to partner with Sportsnet (a Canadian variation of what FoxSportsnet or ComcastSportsNet is to the U.S.) for the hoopla of the approaching trading deadline for the NHL, various folks are coming forward to address this issue of his method and content.

The discussion seems to be expanding, but you can read what Kukla, Alanah, J.J., Zanstorm, and Eric are saying about this. You can say what you want about blogging, but there is something to be said about journalistic integrity. To me, this is what all this discussion stems down to.

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Wearing glasses under your goalie mask

I got a very interesting email the other day. I thought that this might make a good post for anyone else out there looking for similar info.

I’m not sure how this guy tracked down that I used to play goalie, albeit roller hockey[wiki], but the fact that he had some insight to the fact that I currently wear glasses. I also wear contacts, probably 70% of the time. I need to update my prescription and get new lenses, hopefully in the next three months. I probably played with glasses for the first couple of years because I didn’t even own contacts.

I also did what I could with just my two eyes, but the glasses made obvious sense. If you can see better overall, then you’re going to see the puck a whole lot better. Even though my nearsightedness, or myopia[wiki], isn’t as bad as some, it’s enough that correction makes the movie theatre experience better, have the newspaper headlines appear readable from ten feet away, and bus numbers are viewable from two blocks out.

Catcher MaskWhen I started out playing in front of the net, it was your atypical group of Midwesterners not having a lot of equipment to play, not to mention a good idea as to everything that we needed. We just wanted to play, period. I started out with a catchers mask, of course, with my glasses underneath. If you understand anything about summers in Iowa, it’s hot and humid. Sweat constantly got onto my glasses.

Like anything else, you can learn to adapt. Those little beads of sweat do get into your field of vision, but you can only handle so much until you simply cannot avoid their distraction. A simple shake of the head can help, but avoid wiping with your fingers. That will only lead to smudges in your field of vision, yet another distraction.

Hockey Helmet and Mask/Cage ComboI graduated from the catchers mask to a hockey helmet and mask/cage combo. I didn’t own this wonderful upgrade because I met some friends in college who would lend this to me, and it was those folks that taught me a huge amount about how to play the game, not to mention how to be a better goalie.

That cage allowed for a good amount of room for my glasses, but I realized how important peripheral vision was. When the game picks up pace and one-timers or redirects come into the game, you need that extra vision to pick up subtle locations of where those other guys are, as well as the guy with the puck at the point. On top of that, the helmet would trap heat and fog up my glasses from time to time, giving me no ability to see. Quite frankly, that’s bad for a goalie.

Needless to say, playing with a group of folks like that, in a handful of intramural tournaments in college, I wanted contacts. Continue reading “Wearing glasses under your goalie mask”

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The issue of quality

Allow me to rant some more about podcasting, but it’s something I haven’t done very much of. Regardless, I feel like I should get some more thoughts about this medium out there. I can be such an armchair warrior, telling Rebecca all sorts of different feelings and thoughts about the things I see and hear.

When it comes to the quality of your podcast, there is a correlation to the content that you are producing, or at least there should be.

For instance, if you are a major company providing audio podcasts for the world to hear, then make it sound good. This should be the number one thing on your list of priorities. The actual quality of the content should matter just as much, but if I can produce something that is audibly better, then you have a problem.

I have a nephew back in the states that fired up Garageband, all by himself, and recorded his own podcast, trying to be like his uncle. Sure, an eleven year old kid yakking about going to school and playing soccer isn’t the most entertaining thing for the rest of the world to hear, but the crisp audio quality of him using the built-in mic on their iMac worked amazingly well. What he recorded never reach the ends of the earth, but it amazed me so much that I ran some bits of it on an episode of RadioZoom[rz#71].

On the other side of this argument, give me brilliant content with questionable audio quality over the reverse, no questions asked. I’ll always be wanting something to improve, that’s a given. If you have something really important or worthwhile to share with the world, then crank it out there.

You should always strive to make things better, but if you are hunkered down in the middle of nowhere with a mic, laptop, and some form of internet connection, podcast away. Tell the world what it’s like to be alone and starving to death, but surviving on the heat of your laptop battery. That might be a tad bit extreme, and you should be able to at least IM some one for help in that situation. Stiil, if you have your laptop and a mic in your office at work, get what you can when the situation calls for some ghetto engineering, or in this case, ghetto podcasting.

I only mention this because I listened to some big company’s podcast today. It irked me because of the reasons I just mentioned. I won’t mention who it was for or done by, but it sounded painful. The content itself wasn’t up my ally, but even an objective view of it still makes me think that there is room for improvement. I wasn’t buying into their product when I went to the site in the first place, and you can bet that there is no way that I will in the future.

On another, related note, Matthew Mullenweg has started podcasting. The brainchild behind WordPress has a mic, a computer, and probably a lot to say. Only two episodes[#1, #2] and not the best sound quality, but I’m more curious as to what a major player in the world of blogging has to say versus how well it sounds when he says it.

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The Countdown to Vancouver 2010

I’m a little under the weather today. Woke up with some sort of headache, sinus thing. With my cup of chai green tea and laptop on the couch, I was going to watch this whole kickoff for the countdown to the start of the 2010 winter games here in Vancouver.

Now the thing that gets me about this is the little promo packages that CTV has been running for this. I get the hoopla and drummed up excitement for the games, but this “special television event” makes my skin crawl. People are gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery and somewhere in Whistler for the clock to officially start ticking.

Of course, Tamera Taggert[wiki], the weather girl for CTV, is hanging out up in Whistler. I would love to go into a nice rant about how much this “meteorologist” annoys me, but there isn’t much more that needs to be said than that. Truth is, she graduated from BCIT the same year and class as John Shorthouse[wiki], both with studies in broadcast journalism. That won’t change the fact that she is up there today to give 2010 weather predictions.

2010? Her weather forecasts are barely correct for the next three days, yet alone what she is going to predict for three years from now.

There are protesters at this event as well. Apparently, there are not against the games as much as they are there to use this events to raise awareness on the homeless problem here in Vancouver. You can hear some of the chants, and there is some dude that has strategically place himself in between the main podium and the camera focused in on that location. Both of his hands are sticking up in the air, but only the middle fingers are raised on each hand. Ah the beauty of live television.

I can’t say that I’m much of a fan of the thunder stix, but those 2010 scarves aren’t too bad. The countdown clock is apparently location near the fountain on the Georgia Street side, closer to the intersection with Hornby.

“Homes not games.” That’s what the protesters appear to be shouting.

1096 days to go. The clock itself is close to the fountain[googlemaps], and I can’t help but feel like it’ll be a target for those who take issue with the games coming to Vancouver. At the same time, that clock is intended to be permanent, sticking around till after the games are over. It’s not the ugliest thing in the world, but you’ll probably notice it without too much difficulty.

So there you go. More fluff to make you feel good about the games coming to Vancouver, but not too much to say about the progress of the preparations or construction of new venues. I probably don’t get close enough to Southeast False Creek that often to really say how the Olympic Village construction is going, but with mostly piles of dirt sitting around, one can’t feel too comfortable. Even at the eleventh hour, will everything be in place?

Oh I can’t post this without Taggart’s snow report from Whistler, which only lasted two minutes at the very end of this “special”. Her prediction? Well, uh, nothing really. Just that VANOC has installed a bunch of weather monitoring stations to measure snowfall here and there to study any patterns. They’ve also invested millions of dollars, around the tune of 15+, to prepare for the event of having no snow on the hills, and there is such things as too much snow. There is not a lot to say about predicting the weather because no matter how much or little there is, machines will take care of the snow. Hmm, wonder if they could do the same with Taggart?

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If you don’t like podcasts, then don’t listen

Being a podcaster, there are a lot of things I hear about the medium. I am, by no means, the first person to talk about this. A lot of this has been discussed across all sorts of outlets. It’s the bloggers that I run into a lot of the time with this.

“Why would I want to listen to a podcast[wiki] when I can read all the information on a blog[wiki] a lot faster?” Usually, after that general point has been made, the conclusion is that these “online radio shows” are stupid. Even further, the technology, essentially, shouldn’t exist or be payed attention to.

It’s also about that moment in the conversation that the person, or persons, looks at me to say that it’s nothing personal towards me, or that classic, “no offense or anything.”

My response? Then don’t listen, don’t watch video podcasts. Believe it or not, you have that power, just like you can decide what blogs you do or don’t read. It’s not that much different than walking into a book store and deciding between the unabridged version of some literary masterpiece or the same thing on tape.

Essentially, that’s what you are going to get out of me. I could go into a long list of why podcasting, as a source of information, is worthwhile, in a variety of concepts and journalistic philosophies, but why do I want to do that? If you’re mind is made up that podcasts, audio or video, are crap, then what is the point of trying to change your mind? You’re the only one that can do that for you, and that’s only going to happen by actually trying it out for yourself.

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Casey bit my finger

IMG_0073 I’ve been in a few recording studios, but nothing to this extent. As Rebecca has mentioned, Matt‘s in the middle of recording another album. Actually, this part of the project is very near being done. At least that’s the mood right now, not that I know how he goes about this process. Every artist does their thing in their own way.

I was surprised to see the dogs when I came in. Walking in, Casey and Benji both started barking, but they calm down quick. I’m a sucker to play with Casey though. His chewed in half rubber ball keeps being set near my hand or in my lap. In previous situations, I was quick to toss it across the room. Not so easy to do here, so in a tug-of-war battle, my finger got in the way. No blood, just a good chomp.

He’s staring up at me from the floor right now. This blue piece of rubber keeps getting shoved deeper and deeper into my lap.

There’s a variety of computers and meters all around the room. I’m trying to sort out what everything does, but this is a realm that I’m less familiar with. Studio recording and live radio broadcasts are two completely different things. The array of monitors are impressive. It’s damn near a wall of sound.

IMG_0068 They’re trying to work out a particular guitar track right now. Record, playback, rehash, try something else, record, playback, and repeat until there is a consensus of “that’s it” in the room. You also hear “nope” a lot.

Matt’s been taking refuge in the corner of the sectional couch in the studio area. They’ve been putting a lot of hours into this process, meaning late nights. That spot is generally known as his, or at least that’s what he informed me while laying there with his eyes closed, Benji nestled on his chest.

It’s a fascinating process. There are some tracks that I’ve heard demos of, but I can’t tell if anything I have heard since being here are of the same. It will be a different experience to listen to this album once it’s done. I’ve met and known a lot of bands, but never been this close to the record making element.

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Bettman is sticking around

This is incredibly depressing. I never thought I would find myself to be the type of hockey fan that becomes interested in the realm of the business behind the NHL, but it’s tough to stay outside of something you enjoy so much. The fact that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman[wiki] is having his contract extended is like nails on a chalkboard.

There is nothing that the guy says that makes you feel safe about the future of the league. He could call me up to say that I have season tickets to all NHL games for life, and I’d still be honked off. Maybe it’s that he’s annoying, but I tend to think it’s some bad business on his end.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Gary Bettman says he isn’t leaving his job as NHL commissioner anytime soon.

“I’ve watched with fascination some of the newspaper reports having me going on sabbatical shortly,” Bettman said Wednesday night. “That isn’t the case, wasn’t the case.

“I think people were somehow under the impression my contract had a year to run and got fixated on that. Those stories were, to say the least, inaccurate.”

Bettman’s contract runs through the 2010-11 season. It runs parallel with the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and its players union that resolved the labor fight that cost the NHL its 2004-05 season.

There have been reports some owners are losing patience with Bettman. Some others are frustrated with the current U.S. broadcast contract with Versus, a cable network formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network, that is unknown to many people. Others are upset with the current unbalanced NHL schedule, which means some superstars don’t play in certain markets for three years.

In a meeting with reporters, Bettman defended the NHL’s contract with Versus and said the NHL will change when owners can agree on a solution that “makes sense to everybody,” The Canadian Press reported.

The CP reported Bettman said he is confident that Versus can grow hockey in the U.S. over the long haul, noting that the network is now seen in 72 million households, up from 64 million. [espn]

How can you build hockey in the states when you push the games on a network that not very many people have and is new to a lot of people’s vocabulary? How much more on the back burner can you get? Just because the network can be seen, that doesn’t mean people are going to watch.

I had some hopes that the Bettman era was coming to a close. He isn’t the only guy pulling the strings here, but nothing completely changes unless he wants it to. The schedule, rules, and TV coverage. I’m not a genius when it comes to the world of sports business, but it’s not too much of a stretch to say that things have been for the better, especially for hockey in the U.S.